Living near a nuclear power plant

Nuclear power plants in Canada must pass rigorous safety reviews to be licenced by the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission, and are routinely inspected. Radiation exposures from an operating nuclear power plant are very low.

Canadians receive a radiation dose of about 1.5 to 4 millisieverts (mSv) per year from natural background sources of radiation. A person who lives near an operating nuclear power plant could receive an additional 0.001 mSv per year from normal operation, which is at least 1,000 times lower than the dose from natural background radiation.